Mexica

For other uses, see the pre-Columbian people.

Mexica

Music and dance during a One Flower ceremony, from the Florentine Codex.
Regions with significant populations
Languages
Nahuatl
Religion
Aztec religion Catholicism (after the Conquest)
Related ethnic groups
Other Nahua peoples

The Mexica (Nahuatl: Mēxihcah, pronounced [meːˈʃiʔkaʔ]) or Mexicans (Spanish: Mexicanos) were an indigenous people of the Valley of Mexico, known today as the rulers of the Aztec empire. The Mexica were a Nahua people who founded their two cities Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco on raised islets in Lake Texcoco around AD 1200. After the rise of the Tenochca Mexica they came to dominate the other Mexica citystate Tlatelolco. Often Mexica is used as a synonym to Aztec, especially by modern political activists such as the Mexica Movement who claim a Mexica heritage and attempt to vindicate and reimplement "Mexica culture" in a modern-day society.

Name

There is much disagreement over the etymology and meaning of the name Mexica (Nahuatl Mēxihcah, which is plural; the singular is Mēxihcatl), and the related place name Mexico (Mēxihco) where they lived.

The name of the modern nation of Mexico and its capital Mexico City are derived from the Nahuatl name Mēxihco.

The seven caves of Chicomoztoc, as depicted in the Historia Tolteca-Chichimeca.

Language

Main article: Nahuatl

Like many of the peoples around them, the Mexica spoke Nahuatl. The form of Nahuatl used in the 16th century, when it began to be written in the alphabet brought by the Spanish, is known as Classical Nahuatl. Nahuatl is still spoken today by over 1.5 million people.

Huitzilopochtli, the patron god of the Mexica, as depicted in the Codex Telleriano-Remensis.

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References

• Andrews, J. Richard (2003). Introduction to Classical Nahuatl (rev. ed. ed.). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-3452-6. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)